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I have these two faucets in the kitchen that I'll use for a washing machine and a dishwasher. Alas, the handles seem to be broken:

I guess I should change the handle at some point, but right now I'd be happy to leave it open using a wrench.

I'm unfamiliar with the nomenclature of these things, but going by this legend it seems like I should be able to rotate the stem -- that's the outer brass thingie right? -- with a wrench to open it.

I've rotated it a bit but no water came out. I'm afraid I'll be disassembling the whole thing if I rotate it too much, so any advice would be rather welcome!

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    That is the stem, but looking at your pictures it appears the faucets are 1/4 turns. So if you can turn it more that 1/4 of a turn and not get water, you need to turn it the other way. If the other way doesn't work you'll need to replace it, because that's all the knob/handle would do. You may have loosened it and need to turn it back to where it was to start. Guessing from photo on the 1/4 turn, if they aren't you may need to just turn more or try the other way. – Jason Aug 14 '13 at 21:45
  • That worked! Thanks a lot. Not sure how to determine what angle yields the most water flow but I think I'll manage something. The washer seems to take longer to fill up than I was used to, but that might because (a) I'm paying too much attention to it and (b) this house has lower water pressure than usual for me. – Luís Oliveira Aug 14 '13 at 22:03
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    You can also remove the screw holding down the other handle and use the same handle on both. – Jason Aug 14 '13 at 22:16
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    Be careful when using a wrench not to round over the corners of the stem; too much of that will make it even harder to turn and make a replacement handle fit poorly. – Kevin Reid Aug 15 '13 at 2:41
  • @Jason - you should convert your comment to an answer. – bcworkz Aug 15 '13 at 20:56
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That is the stem, but looking at your pictures it appears the faucets are 1/4 turns. So if you can turn it more that 1/4 of a turn and not get water, you need to turn it the other way. If the other way doesn't work you'll need to replace it, because that's all the knob/handle would do. You may have loosened it and need to turn it back to where it was to start. Guessing from photo on the 1/4 turn, if they aren't you may need to just turn more or try the other way.

You can also remove the screw holding down the other handle and use the same handle on both.

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  • As mentioned in the question comments, the first suggestion was spot on. Regarding the second suggestion, both handles are broken. Thanks again! – Luís Oliveira Aug 19 '13 at 16:54

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